Professor Mary J O'Connell
@evol-molly.bsky.social
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📥 347
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Evolutionary Biologist, Mammals, Phylogenies, Comparative Genomics, Art and Running
At the university of Melbourne with my
@leverhulme.ac.uk
personal fellowship award. I will be giving a research seminar here on Thursday at noon if you are about and/or want to hear more!:)
8 days ago
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MU-Peter Shimon 🀄
9 days ago
Female birds more likely to sing when extended family help Territoriality modulates the coevolution of cooperative breeding and female song in songbirds🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cooperative breeding shapes the evolution of vocal communication differently based on territorial context and sex
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We are recruiting ! ... the second PhD position available with us at University of Manchester:
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
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MicroRNA evolution and the genetic basis of placental phenotypic diversity across mammals at The University of Manchester on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - MicroRNA evolution and the genetic basis of placental phenotypic diversity across mammals at The University of Manchester, listed on FindAPhD.com
https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/microrna-evolution-and-the-genetic-basis-of-placental-phenotypic-diversity-across-mammals/?p195618
13 days ago
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Come join us for a PhD at the University of Manchester :
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Defining the landscape of stop codon readthrough across vertebrate genomes at The University of Manchester on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Defining the landscape of stop codon readthrough across vertebrate genomes at The University of Manchester, listed on FindAPhD.com
https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/defining-the-landscape-of-stop-codon-readthrough-across-vertebrate-genomes/?p195619
13 days ago
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Fiona J Whelan
18 days ago
Application deadline this Monday!
add a skeleton here at some point
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Jeni Sage Sidwell
27 days ago
Offering a few free commissions to improve my sci comm skills & portfolio. I can do hand-painted illustrations for figures, design infographics, and even sound design and music for research promotion or podcasts.
jenisidwell.com
#sciencecommunication
#marinemammals
#lifesciences
#datavisualization
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If you are looking for activities to do for the
#BritishScienceWeek
, take a look at our “How are proteins made?” from RiboCode sLoLa project. Designed for schools in the UK and Ireland, ages 7-11 (~KS2/Second to Fifth Class/P4-7). Download the free resources and enjoy:)
ribocode.org/resources/
about 1 month ago
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Molecular Biology and Evolution
about 1 month ago
Emerling,
@freddelsuc.bsky.social
et al. investigated candidate genes related to dentition, gustation, and mastication in nine convergent myrmecophagous mammalian lineages, finding that convergent evolution of myrmecophagy was a protracted process. 🔗
doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag009
#evobio
#molbio
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Pseudogenes document protracted parallel regression of oral anatomy in myrmecophagous mammals
Abstract. Adaptation to ant and/or termite consumption (myrmecophagy) in mammals constitutes a textbook example of convergent evolution, being independentl
https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msag009
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Reflecting on what has been a thought provoking and enjoyable experience at my first SBS research away day today at UoManchester. First up was a fantastic talk from
@whelanfj.bsky.social
and the day just kept on giving! Feeling hugely excited for what is to come in my new academic home :)
about 2 months ago
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EvolDir
about 2 months ago
Join the online course "A Hands-on Course in Bayesian Modelling and Evolutionary Analysis using RevBayes" from April 21-24. More details at
https://www.physalia-courses.org/courses-workshops/bayesian-phylogenetics/
.
#course
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A hands-on course in Bayesian modelling and evolutionary analysis using RevBayes
21-24 April 2026
https://www.physalia-courses.org/courses-workshops/bayesian-phylogenetics/
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Leverhulme Trust
about 2 months ago
Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Dr Katherine Davey, conducts new research
@manmetuni.bsky.social
offering the first national picture of how inequalities emerge for academically successful working-class women.
media.leverhulme.ac.uk/feature/kdavey
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Degrees of opportunity? Working-class women’s lives beyond the elite university
Employing innovatively creative methods, Katherine Davey’s research interrogates the nuanced relationship between social class and gender, offering the first national picture of how inequalities emerg...
https://media.leverhulme.ac.uk/feature/kdavey
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Congratulations to Eilidh Ward (first author and PhD student co-supervised by co-authors Julie Aspden, David Westhead and yours truly) on this lovely contribution - a method to visually inspect reads from novel open reading frames:
doi.org/10.1093/bioa...
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InspectorORF: a tool for visualising Ribo-Seq and additional genomic or transcriptomic data
AbstractMotivation. The advent of ribosome profiling (an adaptation of RNA sequencing) to determine the translatome, has led to a huge improvement in our u
https://doi.org/10.1093/bioadv/vbag031
about 2 months ago
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Mario Vallejo-Marin
2 months ago
Join us at the Evolutionary Biology Centre at Uppsala University. We’re searching for an Assistant Professor in Biology.
www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...
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Rob Waterhouse
2 months ago
Pre-announcement ... keep an eye out for news of our upcoming
#Biodiversity
#Bioinformatics
Summer School 21-26 June in Germany co-organised by
@sib.swiss
&
@denbi.bsky.social
... sign up to the mailing list to be sure not to miss it!
www.sib.swiss/training/upc...
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Upcoming training courses
The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics is an academic not-for-profit organization whose mission is to lead and coordinate the field of bioinformatics in Switzerland.
https://www.sib.swiss/training/upcoming-training-courses
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Jane
2 months ago
Mother nature is a raver.
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Alexis Stamatakis
2 months ago
The abstract submission deadline (Jan 31st) for the 2026 Mathematical and Computational Evolutionary Biology Meeting on Crete
mceb2026.sciencesconf.org
is this Saturday!
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Chris Creevey
2 months ago
Last chance to apply for our funded PhD opportunity. w. Prof. Fredric Coulon @ Cranfield University. This will investigate expansion of ML models for AMR phenotype detection to agriculture settings to create a sensor-ready hit list. Detail here:
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
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From Genomic Context to Sensor Design: Computational Identification of AMR Biomarkers in Agriculture (project at Queen's University Belfast) at University of Reading on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - From Genomic Context to Sensor Design: Computational Identification of AMR Biomarkers in Agriculture (project at Queen's University Belfast) at University of Reading, listed on FindAPhD....
https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/from-genomic-context-to-sensor-design-computational-identification-of-amr-biomarkers-in-agriculture-project-at-queen-s-university-belfast/?p192848
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Monica Bettencourt-Dias
2 months ago
📣 Please spread: we’re hiring a Lab Manager! It is a critical position in our new lab. As our lab moves to Barcelona and joins the
@crg.eu
, we’re looking for a Lab Manager to help build the lab and set the lab atmosphere. 🔗 Apply here 👉
recruitment.crg.eu/content/jobs...
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Leverhulme Trust
2 months ago
A new study by Philip Leverhulme Prize Winner Harrison Steel,
@gabriel-abrahams.bsky.social
and others has proved for the first time that it is possible to deliberately engineer quantum mechanical processes occurring inside a protein, and use these to create new sensing technologies.
add a skeleton here at some point
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Alexis Stamatakis
2 months ago
The submission deadline (Jan 31st) for the 2026 Mathematical and Computational Evolutionary Biology Meeting in Crete
mceb2026.sciencesconf.org
is getting closer!
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EvolDir
2 months ago
NYU's Rocha Lab seeks a Postdoctoral Associate in Evolutionary Biology. Ideal candidates hold a PhD, with expertise in genetic diversity, bioinformatics, and mentoring. Apply by Feb 26, 2026. More info:
https://apply.interfolio.com/180051
#postdoc
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{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
https://apply.interfolio.com/180051
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Interested in pangenomics ? This paper just out from Alan Beavan (not on socials),
@blackpassiflora.bsky.social
and
@jomcinerney.bsky.social
is a must:
doi.org/10.1093/bioi...
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PanForest: predicting genes in genomes using random forests
AbstractMotivation. The presence or absence of some genes in a genome can influence whether other genes are likely to be present or absent. Understanding t
https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btag005
3 months ago
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Fiona J Whelan
3 months ago
So excited to have
@szytynska.bsky.social
kicking off our Evolution & Ecology day at
@manchester.ac.uk
today!
#UoM_EEday
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Philip Donoghue
3 months ago
Our latest: Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history, led by
@meleonora-rossi.bsky.social
with help from friends
@bristolpalaeo.bsky.social
including
@anariesgo.bsky.social
@evopalaeo.bsky.social
Davide Pisani and many others
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Independent origins of spicules reconcile paleontological and molecular evidence of sponge evolutionary history
Sponges have a cryptic Ediacaran history because ancestral sponges were soft-bodied and had low fossilization potential.
https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/sciadv.adx1754
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈
3 months ago
300,000 Wondrous Nature Illustrations Put Online by The Biodiversity Heritage Library | Open Culture
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300,000 Wondrous Nature Illustrations Put Online by The Biodiversity Heritage Library
Are we truly in the midst of a human-caused sixth mass extinction, an era of “biological annihilation”?
https://www.openculture.com/2026/01/300000-wondrous-nature-illustrations-by-the-biodiversity-heritage-library.html
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Molecular Biology and Evolution
3 months ago
Thawornwattana, Rannala &
@zihengyang.bsky.social
use simulation to study the false positive rate of a Bayesian test of gene flow under the MSC with multiple influencing factors. 🔗
doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf327
#evobio
#molbio
#compbio
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On the robustness of Bayesian inference of gene flow to intragenic recombination and natural selection
Abstract. The multispecies coalescent (MSC) model provides a framework for detecting gene flow using genomic data, including between sister species. Howeve
https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf327
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈
3 months ago
Arctic endured year of record heat as climate scientists warn of ‘winter being redefined’
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Arctic endured year of record heat as climate scientists warn of ‘winter being redefined’
Region known as ‘world’s refrigerator’ is heating up as much as four times as quickly as global average, Noaa experts say
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/16/artic-record-heat-shrunken-sea-ice-report
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Manlio De Domenico
4 months ago
🚨 What if evolution is the ”law”… and networks are the machines that do the work? In this paper (just published) I try to formalize how living systems are non-equilibrium, information-processing, adaptive matter. With a great biological flavor! 🧪🌐🌍🧬🦠 👉
iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...
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Prof Niamh Forde
4 months ago
We have a PhD studentship available starting in October 2026. Investigating climate change heat stress impacts on maternal and child health. Get in touch if you have questions!
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
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Harnessing comparative biology to understand climate change induced heat stress impacts on maternal and offspring health at University of Edinburgh on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Harnessing comparative biology to understand climate change induced heat stress impacts on maternal and offspring health at University of Edinburgh, listed on FindAPhD.com
https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/harnessing-comparative-biology-to-understand-climate-change-induced-heat-stress-impacts-on-maternal-and-offspring-health/?p193055
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Philip Ball
4 months ago
Wow, this is a very impressive embryo model. "What sets the model described in this study apart from other embryo models is its ability to continuously mimic primate development from pre-implantation through to late gastrulation." (Nice,
@amartinezarias.bsky.social
!)
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
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Primate embryo model leaps across developmental boundaries
A stem-cell-based monkey embryo model that self-organizes into a comprehensive body plan could lead the way to more-sophisticated models of early human development.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03729-7
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Professor Mary J O'Connell
James McInerney
4 months ago
Latest preprint with
@hairyllama.bsky.social
and
@evol-molly.bsky.social
This is a program that helps calculate several phylogenetic support measures.
add a skeleton here at some point
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Judith Mank
4 months ago
Please help! We are looking for tissue-specific RNA-seq datasets or pubs with both male and female individual gene expression data, not pooled, from animal species. If you know of any relevant resources, please drop a link in the comments or send me a DM. Also, please help spread the word - thanks!
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Paper out by the sensational
@haideetinning.bsky.social
and
@niamhforde.bsky.social
and co-authors. A conceptus-derived and highly conserved protein “PDI” alters function of endometrium to facilitate early preg events in mammals with different early preg phenotypes.
academic.oup.com/biolreprod/a...
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The embryo-derived protein PDI is highly conserved among placental mammals and alters the endometrial transcriptome and secretome in vitro across species with differing implantation strategies
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We provide evidence that a highly conserved protein (PDI) alters the endometrial transcriptome in a species- and cell-specific manne
https://academic.oup.com/biolreprod/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biolre/ioaf263/8364961?login=false
4 months ago
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Philip Donoghue
4 months ago
Our latest, led by the inimitable Chris Kay "Dated gene duplications elucidate the evolutionary assembly of eukaryotes" in which we used gene duplications to test hypotheses of eukaryogenesis. TLDR? They're all wrong. With
@tweethinking.bsky.social
@anya1.bsky.social
@ssolo.bsky.social
Davide Pisani
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Dated gene duplications elucidate the evolutionary assembly of eukaryotes - Nature
Analysis of eukaryotic gene sequences using a relaxed molecular clock methodology indicate that eukaryotes emerged 3.0–2.25 billion years ago as a result of mitochondrial endosymbiosis with complex ar...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09808-z
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Eva Heinz
4 months ago
New editor's spotlights to highlight some of the exciting work we see at
#MGen
, getting kicked off by
@bjesseshapiro.bsky.social
diving into the latest work from
@sylvainbrisse.bsky.social
et al 🔍 vaccine impacts on non-target species!
#MicroSky
#MicrobiomeSky
#IDSky
#MedSky
#evobio
#clinmicro
💻🧬 🧪
add a skeleton here at some point
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Professor Mary J O'Connell
Molecular Biology and Evolution
4 months ago
Sharma & Kumar present the Net Bootstrap Support (NBS) approach that accounts for phylogenetic variation in the estimates of bootstrap confidence. 🔗
doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf296
#evobio
#molbio
#phylogenetics
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Robust and Efficient Confidence Limits for Phylogenomic Inference of Organismal Relationships
Abstract. Phylogenomic data are indispensable for establishing reliable relationships needed to build a robust Tree of Life. The superalignment approach co
https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf296
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Mia Levine
4 months ago
How to keep in step when your (protein) partner speeds up… Here we investigated the adaptive remodeling of a protein-protein interaction surface essential for telomere protection. Congrats to whole team!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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Rapid compensatory evolution within a multiprotein complex preserves telomere integrity
Intragenomic conflict with selfish genetic elements spurs adaptive changes in subunits of essential multiprotein complexes. Whether and how these adaptive changes disrupt interactions within such comp...
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adv0657
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Charles Johnson
4 months ago
i’m not crying you’re crying xkcd: Fifteen Years
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Fifteen Years
https://xkcd.com/3172/
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Professor Mary J O'Connell
Molecular Biology and Evolution
4 months ago
Povilus et al. examined DNA methylation and genetic imprinting in water lily species, finding that maternal gene expression and parent-specific DNA methylation in the endosperm likely represent the ancestral condition of seed development. 🔗
doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf271
#evobio
#molbio
#PlantSky
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Michael Hiller
4 months ago
Happy to present TOGA2, developed by Yury Malovichko
@ymalovichko.bsky.social
, the faster, memory-efficient & more accurate TOGA1 successor (
github.com/hillerlab/TO...
). And annotations, orthologs & gene loss/dup data generated with 4 references for 883 placental mammal and with 5 refs for 676 ...
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Peter Mulhair
6 months ago
Latest work out today in
@currentbiology.bsky.social
We find the fly development gene bicoid is much older than previously thought (~20 million yrs older!) 🪰🧬 To pinpoint its origins we tackled the Diptera phylogeny, providing some resolution (many open questions remain). 🔗
tinyurl.com/2vyuevpy
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Revised evolutionary relationships within Brachycera and the early origin of bicoid in flies
Mulhair et al. uncover a functional bicoid in non-cyclorrhaphan flies, pushing the gene's origin back by ∼20 million years. Reassessing the Diptera phylogeny using the largest dataset to date permits ...
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)01251-5
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Biodiversity Heritage Library
4 months ago
Narwhals (Monodon monoceros) are called the unicorn of the sea — for obvious reasons. This illustration by Louis A. Sargent comes from "The wild beasts of the world", v. 2 (1909), contributed to BHL by
@uoftlibraries.bsky.social
:
www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/19657038
#SciArt
#ILoveBHL
🧪 📖 🌊
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Dr Simon Goodman
4 months ago
A series of before/after satellite images comparing areas of high ecological importance in the Caspian Sea tell the story of 20 years of falling water levels. The Caspian is rapidly heading towards severe consequences for biodiversity and people living in the region.
goodmanlab.org/2025/11/22/t...
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Tracking Caspian Sea level decline in satellite imagery
Pictures from NASA’s MODIS earth observation satellites tell the story of falling water levels in the Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the largest landlocked waterbody on the planet. Located at…
https://goodmanlab.org/2025/11/22/tracking-caspian-sea-level-decline-in-satellite-imagery/
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Professor Mary J O'Connell
Molecular Biology and Evolution
4 months ago
In a new MBE Perspective,
@jomcinerney.bsky.social
introduces the concepts of epaktovars and xenotypes, providing a framework for describing phenotypic convergence and shared genetic material resulting from gene transfer across diverse lineages. 🔗
doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf279
#evobio
#molbio
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Classifying Convergences in the Light of Horizontal Gene Transfer: Epaktovars and Xenotypes
Abstract. The classification of living systems presents significant challenges due to the prevalence of gene transfer between genomes. Traditional taxonomi
https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaf279
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Steve Brusatte
4 months ago
🚨🦜🐧Cover reveal! Thrilled to show off the cover of my upcoming book: The Story of Birds! Coming April 28. The whole history of birds, from their dinosaur origins to colossal extinct penguins & terror birds, to the 10,000+ species today. From
@marinerbooks.bsky.social
Preorder 👇
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Alexei Maklakov
5 months ago
Fast females, slow males: accelerated ageing and reproductive senescence in Drosophila melanogaster females across diverse social environments url:
academic.oup.com/evlett/artic...
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Fast females, slow males: accelerated ageing and reproductive senescence in Drosophila melanogaster females across diverse social environments
Abstract. Females and males typically differ in lifespan, patterns of ageing, and reproduction. General explanations for variation in the magnitude of this
https://academic.oup.com/evlett/article/doi/10.1093/evlett/qraf041/8317098
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HipHipHorray for a fabulous first day… at the University of Manchester!:) excited for the future and looking forward to some wonderful sciencing together !:) once I find my way through all my boxes lol
5 months ago
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Professor Mary J O'Connell
PLOS Biology
5 months ago
#Evolution
of complex adaptations can involve changes in multiple traits that lack standalone function.
@benitoexplains.bsky.social
&co show that leaf masquerade in
#katydids
evolved via concurrent modification in wing colour & shape, driven by evolutionary synergy
@plosbiology.org
🧪
plos.io/4oUE741
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Dr. Heather Hinam 🍁 🇨🇦
5 months ago
Coming through! Important ptarmigan stuff to do!
#birds
🌿
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David Blanchflower BSc
5 months ago
Life-changing eye implant helps blind patients read again. 🧪
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
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Life-changing eye implant helps blind patients read again
The results are astounding and a major advance, say surgeons involved in international research using the pioneering technology.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0qpz39jpj7o
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